1. Field
The present invention relates to a door unit, and more particularly, to a door unit which is applicable to a refrigerator and has a bidirectional opening/closing structure, and a refrigerator having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A refrigerator is an apparatus to supply cold air, produced by a refrigeration cycle, into a storage compartment to maintain freshness of a variety of foods for a long time. Generally, the refrigerator includes a body having the storage compartment to store foods therein, and a door pivotally rotatably installed to the body by a hinge device to open or close the storage compartment.
The door included in the refrigerator has been fabricated to open or close the storage compartment only in a predetermined direction, for example, only in a rightward opening/closing manner or leftward opening/closing manner. Here, the term “rightward opening/closing manner” means that the hinge device is coupled to a right end of the door such that the door is pivotally rotated about the right end thereof, and the term “leftward opening/closing manner” means that the hinge device is coupled to a left end of the door such that the door is pivotally rotated about the left end thereof.
Accordingly, since the door is allowed to be opened or closed only in a predetermined direction once the refrigerator is installed at a certain place, the door may have a difficulty in opening and closing operations if any restrictive items, such as home electronics, etc., exist in the opening/closing direction of the door. Therefore, it is necessary to change the installation position of the refrigerator. Further, the one-directional opening/closing door is unsuitable to be conveniently used by a right-handed person and a left-handed person together, and consequently, causes dissatisfaction of customers.
To solve the above described problems, recently, a reversible door capable of allowing a user to selectively change an opening/closing direction of the door in consideration of his/her use convenience has been developed.
One example of the reversible door is disclosed in Korean Patent Laid-open Publication No. 10-2004-0067205.
The reversible door, disclosed in the above Publication, is a detachable bidirectional opening/closing door wherein, to allow the door to be opened or closed in a desired direction, first and second bracket assemblies coupled to opposite sides of the door are first disassembled, and after the door is located in a desired direction, respective constituent elements of the first and second bracket assemblies are assembled again.
However, when changing the opening/closing direction of the door according to the user's intention, it requires a complicated procedure to disassemble the bracket assemblies and again assemble them in an opposite direction.